Adjustable mounting shim

ABSTRACT

A shim having a hollow body which initially is given a predetermined thickness by a compressible member separating opposing parts of the body. The hollow body provides a mold cavity which is filled with a castable material after the shim is compressed to a required thickness, the material setting to retain the body permanently at the required thickness.

United States Patent lnventor Gordon G. Denholm 789 W. Fender St., Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada Appl. No. 848,226

Filed Aug. 7, 1969 Patented Sept. 14, 1971 ADJUSTABLE MOUNTING SHlM 5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 85/50 AT, 248/2, 248/19 Int. Cl ..Fl6b 43/00, Fl6b 43/02 Field 01 Search 248/19, 23, 188.8; 85/50 R, 50 AT; 151/38 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,344,417 6/1920 Lovekin 85/50 AT 1,373,708 4/1921 Blumc 248/23 1,836,713 12/1931 Hewitt 85/50 R Primary Examiner-William H. Schultz Attorney-Fetherstonhaugh & Co.

ABSTRACT: A shim having a hollow body which initially is given a predetermined thickness by a compressible member separating opposing parts of the body. The hollow body provides a mold cavity which is filled with a castable material after the shim is compressed to a required thickness, the material setting to retain the body permanently at the required thickness.

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GORDON B. DENHOLM moan.

ADJUSTABLE MOUNTING SIIIM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to shims for spacing one member a required distance from another member and more particularly to adjustable shims for mounting a machine on a supporting base.

There are many pieces of equipment which are mounted on a base of some sort and require the use of mounting shims so that the height of the equipment above the base can be adjusted to align properly with adjacent equipment. For example, an electric motor may be so mounted to drive a water pump or the like and great care must be taken to ensure that the motor and pump are level and that their drive and driven shafts are horizontally aligned. Normally, it is difficult to achieve proper alignment since the base, and the base-contacting parts of the motor and the pump, usually are rough castings or steel fabrications which must be machined so that these parts are plane, level surfaces. The pump and motor then are mounted in operating position using conventional spacers or shims and the alignment of the drive and driven shafts is done by a trial-and-error method. The extra machining of the aforesaid metal parts and the labor involved in mounting the equipment by this time-consuming method adds considerably to the cost of buying and installing the equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION l overcome these and other disadvantages inherent in the use of conventional spacers by providing a shim which is adjustable as to thickness. The shim is compressed to the required thickness when a motor, for example, is bolted down on a supporting base and is adjusted vertically to the desired position. Since the shim is hollow, a mold cavity is provided which can be filled with a suitable, hard-setting material and, once this filler material sets, the shim permanently is of the required thickness. This obviates the need for expensive machining and considerably reduces the time required for mounting the equipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation showing a typical use for the adjustable mounting shim, in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a vertical section of an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 5 is a vertical section of another embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 6 is a vertical section still another embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. I, the numeral 10 indicates generally a baseplate of the type generally used to support such equipment as pump 12 and an electric motor 14 for driving said pump. Pump 12 and motor 14 have shafts l5 and 16 which are connected together by a conventional bolted coupling 17. Integrally formed on the baseplate 10, are a number of suitably spaced blocks 19 on which the motor 14 is mounted. The electric motor 14 is provided with feet 20 and holddown bolts 21 secure said feet to the blocks 19. A shim, generally indicated at 24, is placed between each block 19 and foot 20 and each holddown bolt 21 extends vertically through the center of said shim as will be explained in detail later.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, each shim 24 is shown to comprise a hollow body 26 which is relatively thin and rectangular (FIG. 2) and square (FIG. 3) although this particular square shape is not essential. For example, the body 26 may be circular, rectangular or any other suitable shape when viewed in plan.

The hollow body 26 is formed by a cup-shaped lower part 27 and a similarly shaped upper part 28. Preferably the opposing parts 27 and 28 are stamped out of sheet metal for maximum rigidity and strength. The lower part 27 includes a bottom wall 30 and an upwardly projecting peripheral flange 31 which extends around the four sides of said part. The upper part 28 has a top wall 33 and a downwardly projecting peripheral flange 34 which also encompasses the said upper part. One of the parts forming the body 26 is made slightly smaller than the other part so that the two opposing parts will telescope, i.e., the depending flange 34 may fit inside the upstanding flange 31 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Thus, the

peripheral flanges 31 and 34 are spaced relative to one another to allow a hollow body 26 to be varied in thickness and said flanges overlap sufficiently so that they always form a closure on all four sides of said hollow body.

The walls 30 and 33 have vertically aligned openings 40 and 41 which register with other openings 42 and 43 formed in the mounting block 19 and the motor foot 20. Opening 42 is suitably threaded to receive the threaded end of the bolt 21 with the bolt projecting through the several other openings as shown best in FIG. 2.

The parts 27 and 28 making up the hollow body 26 are separated by compressible means generally indicated at 48. As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the means 48 comprises a tubular member 50 which in this preferred embodiment of the invention, is a short length of rubber or plastic tube. The open ends 52 and 53 of the member 50 contact the walls 30 and 33 so that said member serves as a flexible spacer which resists movement of part 28 towards part 27.

Member 50, and the parts 27 and 28 separated by said member, define a mold cavity 54 within the hollow body. An inlet opening 55 is formed in the upper part 28, at the junction of the wall 33 and the flange 34, and the mold cavity is adapted to be charged with a filler 58 through this opening.

There are a number materials which have been found suitable for use as a filler 58. For example, babbitt or sulfur will serve as a suitable filler and so will most plastics. The requirewhich will withstand considerable clamping pressure without yielding or fracturing.

To mount the motor 14 on the baseplate 10, using the present invention, the required number of shims 24 are prepared for mounting on the blocks 19. The lower part 27 of each shim can be secured to the top surface of a block 19 by welding as at 60, although it is not absolutely necessary to fasten the shim part in this manner. When member 50 and upper part 28 are fitted to part 27, it will be found that the hollow body 26 has a predetermined thickness determined of course by the height of said member. This initial thickness of the body 26 is sufficient to permit the shim to be compressed to a substantial extent when the motor 14 later is mounted and aligned.

Motor 14 is lowered on to the shims 24 and the holddown bolts 21 are fitted in position. The bolts 21 then are tightened as required to clamp the motor 14 firmly to the base 10. As the bolts 21 are tightened, the usual care is taken to ensure that the motor is level and, at the same time, the usual tests are made to indicate when the drive shaft 16 is horizontally aligned with the driven shaft 15 of the pump 12. When proper alignment of the shafts 15 and I6 is achieved, the two halves of the coupling 17 can be bolted together. The clamping pressure applied when the holddown bolts 21 are tightened causes the resilient member 50 to deform slightly so that the part 28 will move towards the part 27 and the body progressively is reduced in thickness. Thus, the shim 24 is reduced to the required thickness whereupon the filler 58 can be cast.

The molten filler 58 is poured into the mold cavity 54 through the inlet opening 55, using a conventional casting procedure, and the cast material is allowed to harden or set. Once the filler 58 has properly hardened, the several parts of the device are locked together so that the thickness of the shim thereafter cannot be varied. Later the motor 14 can be removed from the base for servicing whenever necessary and can be remounted on the permanently adjusted shims without the need for realigning the shafts l5 and 16.

In the abovedescribed embodiment of the invention the holddown bolt 21 extends through the center of the shim 24 but as previously mentioned the hollow body 26 might be made larger and of a different shape in which case another bolt arrangement could be used. For example, four holddown bolts 66 (shown by dotted lines in FIG. 3 only) might be used along with the same number of tubular members 67. Bolts 66 would extend through suitable openings (not shown) in the enlarged shim to clamp the supported member to the base.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the numeral 70 indicates generally a slightly modified form of the adjustable mounting shim. Shim 70 comprises a hollow body 72 having a cuplike lower part 73, which part has a bottom wall 74 and a peripheral flange 75. Part 73 is firmly secured to the top surface of mounting block 19 by means of welding 76. Telescopically fitting into the part 73, is an upper part 78 having a top wall 79 and a depending peripheral flange 80. An inlet opening 81 is provided in the upper part 78 to communicate with a mold cavity 82 formed within the hollow body 72. The top wall 79 of the upper part is provided with a centrally disposed opening 84 This type of shim is adapted to be fitted with a holddown bolt 86 having a nut 87. The lower end of bolt 86 has a side, flattened head 88 and this head is secured to the wall 74 by a weld 89. Before the upper part 78 is placed in position, a compression spring 92 is placed over the bolt 86 to rest on the head 88 whereby to support the upper part of the hollow body 72.

Shim 70 is intended for use when the mounting block 19 is not drilled and tapped to receive a holddown bolt 21 and it s therefore necessary to securely anchor the bolt 86 in order to exert appropriate clamping pressure when the nut 87 is tightened. Also the arrangement allows the shim 70 to be attached first of all to the foot so that the motor 14 can be moved about horizontally as required to locate it properly on a large flat base, for example. The welds 76 are then made and the nuts 77 are tightened on the bolts 86 as before to apply the necessary clamping pressure which will reduce the shim 70 to the required thickness. When he molten filler 58 is cast into the mold cavity 82 in the previously described manner, the cast material will flow past the spring 92 and into contact with the bolt 86. When the material has hardened, it assists in securing the bolt 86 against movement away from the lower part 73 so that there is less likelihood of any movement of said bolt within the body 72 which would be undesirable.

If the motor 14 or other equipment is heavier than usual, instead of a spring 92 alone being used as compressible means separating the parts 73 and 78, said spring is augmented by a tubular member 94 which is shown by dotted line only in FIG. 4. The use of such a member 94 prevents the filler 58 from contacting and subsequently anchoring the bolt 84 as described but a far greater force is needed to compress the shim 70 when a member 94 is added and the heavier-thanusual equipment is supported properly while the aligning and casting procedures are carried out.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a shim 100 is provided which has a bottom wall 101 and a top wall 102 both of which walls preferably are made of metal. The top and bottom walls of this shim are separated by compressible means 104 which is shown to comprise a peripheral wall 105, a tube 106 and a compression spring 107. The peripheral wall 105 preferably is formed of a suitable resilient plastic material and so is the tube 106. The walls 101 and 102 have openings 108 and 109 which allow a holddown bolt (not shown) to project through the bore of the tube 106. Wall 102 has an inlet opening 110 into which the cast material (not shown) is poured as previously described. This particularshim is intended to support a very large weight and a considerable clamping force must be applied to reduce the device from the initial thickness to the required thickness. The shim 100 can be made in the larger sizes more economically than the stamped metal shims of FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIG. 6 shows still another modification of the invention. In this instance, shim is provided which is made up entirely of a suitable resilient plastic. The construction of the shim is such as to provide the device with a bottom wall 121 and a top ball 122. Desirably, the top wall 122 is reinforced by means of a metal face plate 123. Plate 123 has a central opening 125 and may be provided with a depending bushing 126 which projects part way into said opening.

Shim 120 has compressible means generally indicated at 130 and comprising a peripheral wall 131 and a tube 132. The bushing 126 projects into the upper end of the tube 132 to augment the reinforcing action of the plate 123. A mold cavity 135 is provided within the hollow body of the plastic shim and an inlet opening 136 is provided in said body to communicate with the mold cavity.

The hollow body of the shim 130 is compressed to the required thickness when clamping pressure is applied by the bolt 21. The plastic peripheral wall 131 and the tube 132 allow this compression to take place without undue distortion and the plate 123 provides a metal-to-metal contact which prevents the top wall from being dished in as might otherwise occur. The filler 58 is east through the inlet opening 136 into the mold cavity 135 as before and once the cast material has set, the several parts are retained in this slightly flattened condition which gives the required thickness to the shim.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent l have provided a particularly effective shim which can be adjusted to give a spacer of the required thickness. It is not necessary to machine to top surface of the mounting block 19, or the bottom surface of the motor foot 20, since these surfaces can be left as rough castings and any unevenness will be compensated for by the shim due to a slight spacing between the peripheral flanges of the species of FIGS. 1-4 and the flexibility of the plastic walls of the species of FIGS. 5 and 6. The time required to align equipment is considerably reduced when the present shim is used and the shims can be used over and over again once they have been adjusted as required.

It will be apparent also that such shims would be useful elsewhere, for example, in the construction of buildings and the like. Metal spacers are sometimes used between one structural member which rests upon another structural member and must be spaced a selected distance therefrom. The present shim could be used as described to reduce the time needed to achieve proper spacing between the structural members.

I claim:

1. Adjustable mounting shim comprising a hollow body adapted to be inserted between a base and a member supported thereon, said hollow body having a lower part and an upper part, a peripheral flange on each of said lower and upper parts, said peripheral flanges being spaced relative to one another to permit the lower and upper parts to telescope with said peripheral flanges forming a side closure for the hollow body and to become misaligned axially to compensate for nonparallelism between the base and member, compressible means interposed between the lower and upper parts and adapted initially to space said parts a predetermined distance apart, said compressible means adapted to yield to clamping pressure applied to space the supported member a selected distance from the base and reduce the hollow body to a required thickness, said hollow body defining a mold cavity and having an inlet opening extending into said mold cavity, and a castable filler entered into the mold cavity through the inlet opening to permanently maintain the hollow body at the required thickness.

2. Adjustable mounting shim as claimed in claim 1, in which said compressible means comprises a resilient tubular member.

3. Adjustable mounting shim as claimed in claim 1, in which said tubular member is a compression spring.

4. Adjustable mounting means as claimed in claim 2, in which at least one of said opposing parts has a bolt-receiving opening registering with the resilient tubular member.

5. Adjustable mounting shim comprising a hollow body adapted to be inserted between a base and a member supported thereon, said hollow body having a lower part and an upper part, a peripheral flange on each of said lower and upper parts, said peripheral flanges being spaced relative to one another to permit the upper part to move towards the lower part with the peripheral flanges forming a side closure for the hollow body and to become misaligned axially to compensate for nonparallelism between the base and member, a compressible tubular member interposed between the lower and upper parts and adapted initially to space said parts a predetermined distance apart, said lower and upper parts hav- Dated September 14, 1971 Patent No. 3,604 ,306

Inventor(s) GORDON B. DENHOLM ars in the above-identified patent It is certified that error appe as shown below:

and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected r- On the cover page of the patent entry I72] should be Gordon B. Denholm; 2050 West 60th Avenue, Vancouver; British Columbia, Canada.

Signed and sealed this 21st day of March 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER, JR. ROBERT GOTISCHALK Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

1. Adjustable mounting shim comprising a hollow body adapted to be inserted between a base and a member supported thereon, said hollow body having a lower part and an upper part, a peripheral flange on each of said lower and upper parts, said peripheral flanges being spaced relative to one another to permit the lower and upper parts to tElescope with said peripheral flanges forming a side closure for the hollow body and to become misaligned axially to compensate for nonparallelism between the base and member, compressible means interposed between the lower and upper parts and adapted initially to space said parts a predetermined distance apart, said compressible means adapted to yield to clamping pressure applied to space the supported member a selected distance from the base and reduce the hollow body to a required thickness, said hollow body defining a mold cavity and having an inlet opening extending into said mold cavity, and a castable filler entered into the mold cavity through the inlet opening to permanently maintain the hollow body at the required thickness.
 2. Adjustable mounting shim as claimed in claim 1, in which said compressible means comprises a resilient tubular member.
 3. Adjustable mounting shim as claimed in claim 1, in which said tubular member is a compression spring.
 4. Adjustable mounting means as claimed in claim 2, in which at least one of said opposing parts has a bolt-receiving opening registering with the resilient tubular member.
 5. Adjustable mounting shim comprising a hollow body adapted to be inserted between a base and a member supported thereon, said hollow body having a lower part and an upper part, a peripheral flange on each of said lower and upper parts, said peripheral flanges being spaced relative to one another to permit the upper part to move towards the lower part with the peripheral flanges forming a side closure for the hollow body and to become misaligned axially to compensate for nonparallelism between the base and member, a compressible tubular member interposed between the lower and upper parts and adapted initially to space said parts a predetermined distance apart, said lower and upper parts having openings aligned with the compressible tubular member and through which a holddown bolt is adapted to extend to secure the supported member to the base, said compressible tubular member adapted to yield to clamping pressure applied by the holddown bolt to space the supported member a selected distance from the base and reduce the hollow body to a required thickness, said hollow body defining a mold cavity and having an inlet opening extending into said mold cavity and a fusible filler within said mold cavity to permanently maintain the hollow body at the required thickness. 